Samsung Beat-SGH-T539 Review - Usability & Performance

Beat worked very well as a phone provided that I could get a signal.  Its quad-band GSM radio had some trouble pulling down strong signals, but when calls connected they sounded very good over the internal earpiece and not bad at all over speakerphone.  Actually, the external speaker is much more useful as a speakerphone than boom box.  On the other hand, music sounded surprisingly good over the included earbuds (with in-line mic for voice calls), and when I wired up my Etymotic earphones via the included 3.5mm adapter, audio quality was excellent. 

Despite the fact that Beat’s internal display is shockingly low-res, the music software was easy to read and navigate with the phone open - though the keypad was overly smooth and didn’t offer much in the way of separation between buttons.  Nobody’s going to win style points for Beat’s “Retro in a bad way” menus and graphics, but they get the job done, and the internal display was bright enough to read in all but the brightest direct sunlight. 

Getting the external controls to navigate through my music collection was a little tricky, though my review handset may have just suffered from some glitches.  The music player also seems to offer a few more options when accessed via the internal display, and while the wired headset has a single button remote control, it’s only for accepting and ending calls, not playing/pausing music.  Music does pause automatically, though, when an incoming call is detected.

Next: Conclusion »